Council on Academic Freedom

About

Mission

On December 21, 2022, the MIT faculty adopted a Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom, which began:

The influential 1949 Lewis Report observed that MIT’s mission was “to encourage initiative, to promote the spirit of free and objective inquiry, to recognize and provide opportunities for unusual interests and aptitudes,” and to develop “individuals who will contribute creatively to our society.” With a tradition of celebrating provocative thinking, controversial views, and nonconformity, MIT unequivocally endorses the principles of freedom of expression and academic freedom.

The MIT Council on Academic Freedom is a faculty organization devoted to promoting and defending freedom of expression and academic freedom at the Institute. MITCAF is independent from MIT’s administration, and membership is open to any professor (including emeriti and lecturers) who supports its mission.

MITCAF’s members have a diversity of views, but agree on the following three principles (all quotations from the 2022 Faculty Statement):

  1. Intellectual Diversity. “We cannot have a truly free community of expression if some perspectives can be heard and others cannot. Learning from a diversity of viewpoints, and from the deliberation, debate, and dissent that accompany them, is an essential ingredient of academic excellence.”
  2. Academic Freedom & Open Inquiry. “Free expression is enhanced by the doctrine of academic freedom, which protects both intramural and extramural expression without institutional censorship or discipline. Academic freedom promotes scholarly rigor and the testing of ideas by protecting research, publication, and teaching from interference.”
  3. Free Expression & Civil Discourse. “We cannot prohibit speech that some experience as offensive or injurious. At the same time, MIT deeply values civility, mutual respect, and uninhibited, wide-open debate.”

Rationale

MITCAF adds an independent non-partisan faculty voice to the conversations about academic freedom and free expression on our campus. The three MIT groups listed below are concerned with similar issues, but differ from MITCAF in their membership and/or mission.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Freedom and Campus Expression (CAFCE) is tasked with developing a Campus Expression Roadmap for the Institute, and reports to the President and the Chair of the Faculty. CAFCE has 13 members, of which 5 are faculty (including the chair and co-chair).

The MIT Free Speech Alliance (MFSA) is a non-profit founded and led by MIT alumni which supports free expression at the Institute. Membership is not restricted to alumni, and includes MIT students, faculty, and staff.

The MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is open to MIT faculty and graduate students who are members of the AAUP, whose mission is to “advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows,” inter alia.

Leadership

Co-presidents: Ian H. Hutchinson (Nuclear Science and Engineering); Antoinette Schoar (Sloan); Brad Skow (Linguistics and Philosophy)

Founding members: John Bush (Mathematics); Alex Byrne (Linguistics and Philosophy); Munther Dahleh (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science); Peko Hosoi (Mechanical Engineering); Ian H. Hutchinson (Nuclear Science and Engineering); Daniel Jackson (Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory); S.P. Kothari (Sloan); Monty Krieger (Biology); John H. Lienhard (Mechanical Engineering); Anne E. C. McCants (History & Concourse); Rosalind W. Picard (Media Lab); Linda Rabieh (Concourse); Edward Schiappa (Comparative Media Studies/Writing); Antoinette Schoar (Sloan); Michael Sipser (Mathematics); Brad Skow (Linguistics and Philosophy); Donca Steriade (Linguistics and Philosophy); Armando Solar-Lezama (Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory); Andrew Gordon Sutherland (Sloan); Bernhardt Trout (Chemical Engineering); John Williams (Civil and Environmental Engineering).

Governance Policies

Origin

Occasionally good ideas are found at the other end of Mass. Ave., and Harvard’s Council on Academic Freedom is one of them. Inspired by CAFH, a group of MIT faculty decided to form a sister organization in the summer of 2024.